Bendit, a B2B Platform for Autonomous Operation of Lodging Businesses, Secures 4 Billion KRW in Pre-Series A Funding

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[Asia Economy Reporter Park Soyeon] Autonomous operation B2B platform Bendit announced on the 12th that it has secured an investment of 4 billion KRW. This investment is at the Pre-A stage, with participation from Hana Ventures, Kona Investment, UTC Investment, and Schmitt. Bendit plans to utilize the secured funds to strengthen offline sales and actively advance its technology.

Bendit is a cloud-based lodging SaaS software development and supply startup established in February last year. It develops and supplies a total package to lodging businesses, including an automated room management system (RMS), kiosks equipped with customized hardware such as facial recognition, and a booking engine that links remaining room inventory in real time.

Because Bendit's solution is linked with the cloud, lodging businesses can manage rooms in real time remotely, automate overall front desk operations, and provide services that allow guests to use facilities more conveniently, such as sending welcome and goodbye messages. This leads to additional bookings, simultaneously reducing labor costs and increasing sales.

These advantages have directly resulted in positive reviews and performance in the lodging industry. Bendit is already automating operations for over 100 lodging establishments, including hotels, motels, and residential lodging facilities, managing more than 3,200 rooms. To date, over 150,000 lodging reservations have been processed automatically, and the transaction amount of lodging reservations managed through the Bendit platform has exceeded 10 billion KRW.

In December, monthly sales reached 200 million KRW, showing rapid growth. Based on this investment, Bendit plans to further accelerate offline sales. The goal for 2022 is to automate operations for 600 lodging establishments and 18,000 rooms.

The background for this startup securing 4 billion KRW in investment from VC institutions in less than a year after its founding includes outstanding technological capabilities and high market evaluation of its products. Bendit launched three products within three months of establishment and is rapidly expanding its market based on word of mouth among lodging businesses. In particular, Bendit's solution, which enables labor cost reduction through unmanned room management, has been effective for lodging owners facing difficulties due to minimum wage increases in recent years.

Jang Junho, Senior Investment Officer at Hana Ventures, the key investor in this round who discovered and led the deal, said, "Bendit is a team with the potential to innovate the entire travel industry beyond simple lodging automation, and is expected to be the most notable company when the travel industry recovers."

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